Service update from GM Peter Svidler, @polborta: “Health bulletin: was too sick to fly, will be watching #dohachess2016 from home. Feel much better now, might manage a BB later this week.”

Loads of chess players were wandering around in hotel lobbies in luxury hotels in Doha, celebrating Christmas among unsuspecting tourists: @brucel:“I’m in a hotel lobby surrounded by chess players bragging about games they’ve won. Very festive: chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.”

@pscooksey:“Question – what are the players doing in the evening – are there sights to see in Doha or just a million elo in a nice hotel?

Sound like a lot of fun! Perhaps the tweeter should have gone out to the playing hall to watch the games: @forwardchess: “Rapid chess is epic struggle of the titans! Thrilling to watch.”

Indeed, rapid chess is thrilling to watch. It is even more fun to watch the games in the playing hall, but the pictures from the event showed an almost empty playing hall (except for the players of course) , an empty press room and only a handful of chess journalists covering the event.

(Picture of the press room by Anna Rudolf @Anna_Chess)

@mikamesh:“Why did the organizers pick a Stadium as venue? The place seems oddly deserted”.

An event like this, organized in a place like Doha, can only work if you can present the games on the net for free, with good commentators and a flawless connection.

@telegraphchess:“Miroshnichenko/Rudolph top commentators sad to see them struggling with awful game feed and asking audience the result of games!”

In the rapid tournament, there were some complaints about the connection.

@Chess_Anyone:“Such a poor streaming #Dohachess2016 This is not how a rapid WCC should look like.”

@theallenvonix: “How hard can it be, to provide a stable livestream in 2016? Final games and you have to reload every 10 seconds.”

@pscooksey:“I’m enjoying #dohachess2016 despite livestream being less reliable than the Benoni”.

Let’s go to the games. In an event like this, it is always nice to discover some new names: @pramodnvs:“Levan Pantsulia has been a revolution here.He has beaten both Hikaru and Magnus here.What a grt feat!” @GM_Mogranzini: “The real surprise of the tournament is Levan Pantsulaia”.

After day one (five rounds), the leader was…@chess.com: “Korobov Perfect On Day 1 At World Rapid Champs,” after the second day (10 rounds) @multiscrime: “Vassily Ivanchuk finishing the 2nd day of rapid championship with 8/10 and being a sole leader with performance of 2953.” @TarjeiJS: “Vasily Ivanchuk, leading #dohachess2016 after 10 out of 15 rounds. I am almost hoping this legend will win it all.”

@Vilispawar: “When you are an Indian, an ardent Vishy fan but you want Chucky to win against him”.

Oh, and where are the other top players: @unudurti:“Titans slumming it out on the lower boards: Naka on B16, Karjakin on B23, Leko on B26, Jobava on B31”.

Winner after 15 rounds: @JakeDarmanin: “Ivanchuk has just won the World Rapid Championship!! Kudos to the veteran legend, very happy for him!”

I think everybody in the chess world is happy for Ivanchuk. An overwhelming number of (prominent) tweeters congratulated the new rapid chess world champ.

From the bloggers vault: Ivanchuk with Spasski (left) in Bilbao.

@Kasparov63: “Congrats to the Great Vassily on winning the World Rapid! He surprised me many times at the board; now he’s teaching a whole new generation”.

@nigelshortchess: “Delighted for Vassily Ivanchuk, one of the tiny handful of chess players @Kasparov63 unhesitatingly refers to as a “genius”.

What about the women? @rohangoda:Why aren’t the commentators looking at the Women’s world championship?! There are many interesting games!

@followchessapp: “Meanwhile in the Women’s section of #dohachess2016 , Anna Muzychuk continues to dominate with only 4 more rounds to go (total 12)” .

And in the end, Muzychuk won: @MarkTWIC: “In a tweet @Eljanov celebrates the Ukrainian double victory in the men’s (Ivanchuk) and women’s (Anna Muzychuk) in spite of no state support”

Blitz world championship

Next up : 21 rounds of blitz chess! Every chess player loves blitz, Morozevich for example: @gmasterg4:“It’s the comeback of the Legends, Morozevich is back!”

But neither Moro nor defending champion Grishuk could keep the pace: @cazhansen: “Carlsen & Karjakin neck and neck after day 1 of World Blitz @#dohachess2016. Defending Champ Grischuk looks out of contention”.

You can see that the tourney is a real tough event, when you look at the oppponents of Vishy Anand @Unudurti:“Anand’s tough fight in the Russian Superfinal: win vs Matlakov & Jakovenko, lost Morozevich & Dubov, draw Karjakin, Nepo next”.

On the second day, Carlsen seemed to have some trouble: @TarjeiJS: “Jobava had a completely winning position against Carlsen: “My grandmother would have won that position”.

@polborta:“With one hand tied behind her back, no doubt – and the other somehow full of rhubarb”.

@olimpiuurcan:“In conclusion, I’ll say this: I’d rather watch Jobava lose like a man a thousand times than Leko drawing like a wimp once.”

The first rest day of the match was on Sunday. If you don’t like the NFL or Formula 1, what is there left to do, for example in India, Jaideep?

@unudurti: “No #CarlsenKarjakin today. I wonder how we’ll manage without the adrenalin and excitement?” Daniel Gormally was happy with the day off-for the players: @elgransenor:“What a relief there’s a rest day in the world chess championship today- the players certainly need it after all the excitement.”

@nigelshortchess spent the day thinking about the schedule: “Bold” idea for the World Ch:5 games a week, with play on Sat. & Sun. Oh, & cheaper tickets and software that works too.”

@MarkTWIC: “I did some quick calculations. 3 games then a rest day would allow 14 games instead of 12 in the same time period.”

And of course, you could also watch some old men playing chess on Sunday in St. Louis @GMJtis: “That Anand guy, just keeps refusing to listen to people telling him how over the hill he is. @bibliophilopoly: “Skipped watching the NFL today to watch the ENTIRE #ChampionsShowdown broadcast.”

Wow, two big chess events at the same time in the USA, that’s good news for the chess community. What’s your take, Darko Polimac: @ChessPolimac: “USA should never host any important @Fide_chess as they are totally useless with no infrastructure at all ! #usa is a joke to run events”.

In other news: on Monday, a bunch of challengers were announced for the upcoming Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2017 in Wijk aan Zee. One spot is still open.

Will we see one of them in a world championship match any time soon? Who knows. A possible future challenger played in this Russian TV show: @telegraphchess: “3rd old Mikhail Osipov turns down Karpov’s draw on Russian TV then solves some difficult puzzles – lovely !”

@ChessVibes: “Even the great Anatoly Yevgenyevich seemed to have watery eyes when the kid asked for his mama.”

Game 3

Let’s go to game three in New York. @silviodanailov wants to see some action:”Chess world is waiting for action today,warm up should be finish.Otherwise there is a danger for the most boring WCC match last 20 years.”

@elgransenor: Really excited about game three of the Carlsen-Karjakin match- have had to cancel my watching paint drying class to watch it.

And what do you expect, Mark? @MarkTWIC: “It would not surprise me at all if Carlsen played 1.e4 or 1.c4 for the rest of the match and his 1.d4 followed by Trompowsky was a feint. “

Pretty soon, the live coverage lost at least one viewer: @AMartinChess: “Ah, it’s a Berlin. Are the cricket highlights on TV this evening?” @GiddinsSteve: “No, but competitive paint-drying is on ITV4.”

@PattyLlanza: “First we play the Trump, then we take the Berlin. Carlsen y Karjakin están homenajeando a Cohen.”

@GMIanRogers:“Carlsen takes on the Berlin in Manhattan at the World Ch. match. Spectators thinking “They sentenced me to 20 years of boredom”. #RIPCohen”

@Anttvidius: “Watching #worldchess2016 live isn’t much exciting as it sounds like. And it not even sounds exciting.”

@AMartinChess: “Karyakin’s tactics: Play very dull games and pick Magnus off if he gets frustrated. An excellent idea, but the spectators will suffer”

Oh boy, all these boring games, it is time to change the format, according to @SusanPolgar: “If Chess wants mega sponsors, change the WC format. For every draw, they have one 5 min round of MMA. Big pay-per-view”, followed by “How many of you are with me? Every draw = one 5 minute round of MMA style battle .You will not see the Berln much anymore :)”

Let’s ask grandmaster, trainer and commentator Daniel King about these plans: @DanielKingChess: “Really enjoying game 3. Those who want to change the WCh format – speed up games, and such – mere populist piffle!”

Back to the game: @GMLars: “Actually I find this game pretty interesting – not so easy for Black in practice. Karjakin must make some tough decisions.”

@Jonathan_Rowson:Thing about being worse against Magnus: He can’t magically create a win, but he will maximise your chance of screwing up.

@GM_Huschenbeth:“Carlsen is smelling blood”. @carsi_izmit: “I really wonder the temperature of Carlsens brain”. @fabianocaruana:” I am surprised to see Karjakin suffering so much after Carlsen’s innocuous opening choice; still very drawish though”.

Another top GM on Twitter has other thoughts: Teymur Rajabov @rajachess:“Yeah now the torture will continue and I must tell you that Carlsen will win this position for sure”.

And Carlsen came very close, but…..what happened? Rb7 happened.

@elgransenor: “Rb7??? is pure fatigue kicking in for Carlsen, he will be kicking himself if game is drawn now. ” @gm_melik:“This is insane , Rb7?” @reachvsara: “A double blunder in the 7th hour of play, and we have another folk tale ready for non-Chess muggles!”

@thechessdrum: “Game 3 has been a seesaw of emotions… or maybe rollercoaster is more accurate!” @swe_chess: “A true roller coaster! It was like watching the tie break Borg vs. McEnroe in Wimbledon 1980 over and over again” @dusanchess: “Kudos to Sergey Karyakin for outstanding nerves and defense! Nevertheless matches all my expectations before the match :)”

@TarjeiJS: Anyone who says draws are boring after this, will be blocked.

@LawrenceTrentIM: “You got to give it to him, Sergey Karyakin is one of the most tenacious defenders in chess history”.

Justin Horton shared the dilemma of many chess lovers in the GMT time zone: @ejhchess: “I seem to have stopped watching the chess an hour too late to get a decent night’s sleep and an hour or two too early for the real drama”.

@bobcats4peace: “During this #worldchess2016 game one could have flown from Moscow to Oslo, have lunch and… fly back. (1632km)”

Teymur, are you still up? @rajachess: “I do not regret a single minute spent today without sleep, because I love this game”

And one last tweet for today: @politistefan:“I thought I could never be more of a chess fan. Now, I feel like I’ve discovered a new-found love for the game of chess”.

One day left before the first game of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin! Twitter is slowly heating up for the #Chess #Event #Of #The #Year.

@Tristadamus: “Magnus by name magnificent by nature @MagnusCarlsen lives for this sort of challenge.Karjackin sounds like a handle from grand theft auto…”

Obviously, on Wednesday there was some other news that dominated every Twitter timeline. Let’s check some reactions from the chess world and ask GM Jan Gustafsson what happened:

@GMJanGustafsson: “WTF! Must still be dreaming. No way this happened last night. Harrison Barnes scores 31?”

Bravo, NBA fan Jan gets his priorities straight. Other reactions:

@nigelshortchess:“So, the US failed the IQ test. Good morning everyone!” An unemotional reaction came from Mark Crowther:@MarkTWIC: “Just transferred all the dollars out of my Paypal account.” @Kasparov63 decided to tweet about the weather: “Winter Is Here.”

Talking about Kasparov, I spotted this rather weird tweet by journalist @StefanLoeffler: “Can @Kasparov63 be blamed for Trump’s victory? In politics (and chess politics) the former world champion is always on the loosing side”.

Stefan and Garry are not best buddies, I guess.

In an earlier blog post, I asked your predictions for the match. Jon Ludvig Hammer @gmjlh tweeted: “In the year of Trump and Brexit, 80/20 in betting markets suddenly not looking as comfortable for Magnus fans.” Jonathan Bryant @BerlinEndgame: “After what 2016 has given me so far I have no doubts whatsoever that Karjakin – the fan of the fascist dictatorship – will win”.

@anishgiri:“Media have approached me asking for #CarlsenKarjakin chances. I didn’t respond, but after a good thought I now give Karjakin approx. 36.8%.

@Patrick_JMT:“If Leo can win an Oscar, the Cubs the World Series and Trump the presidency, I’m putting $ on @SergeyKaryakin over @MagnusCarlsen”. @Lord_Goz: “Leicester Won the Premier league, Portugal the Euros. Trump the elections. @MagnusCarlsen Watch out!”

@thechessdrum: “@Cubs win World Series … Trump wins U.S. Presidency … should @MagnusCarlsen be concerned in #worldchesschampionship? #StrangerThings”

Perhaps, we should ask The Simpsons.

On Thursday, a rather uneventful opening press conference was held in New York. I can tell by experience, that the players do not like these events and want to return to their bubble as soon as possible. @TarjeiJS: “Looks like Carlsen and Karjakin meeting the press will get competition from a certain Trump meeting Obama. Easy choice.”

One tweet by @OlimpiuUrcan is all you need to know about the press conference: “That press conference was Carlsen giving a simul to seven different individuals on topics such as style, substance and self-confidence.”

If you cannot wait for the match to begin, there is another formidable chess event in the US to follow: @GMHikaru: “On a more positive note, today is the start of the #ChampionsShowdown @CCSCSL and buona fortuna a tutti.”

FYI: Topalov, Nakamura, Caruana and Anand play in this event in St. Louis from November 10-14. They play classical, rapid and blitz chess.

Another tournament to watch is the European Club Cup in Novi Sad: @elgranasenor: “Is it just me or is the European club chess tournament just scarily strong? So many good players these days it’s actually depressing.”

Good players, like @anishgiri: “Big day. First win for papa.”

Last tweet of the day by @forwardchess: #CarlsenKarjakin Interesting Fact: @MagnusCarlsen turns 26 when the world c’ship match ends! His B’day falls on 30th Nov (Tie-break day)

Did you know… that the hashtag is so recognized that it was added to the Oxford Dictionary and the Scrabble Dictionary? ‘Hootsuite’ describes the hashtag as follows: The hashtag is likely the most popular means of categorizing content on social media. It makes your own content discoverable and allows you to find relevant content from other people and businesses. The hashtag also allows you to connect with and engage other social media users based on a common theme or interest.

Therefore, it is important to find a good hashtag for the World Championship in New York. Picking the wrong hashtag can result to awkward situations. Let’s have a look at the hashtag #therapist, for example:

-Intention: Therapist
-Interpreted: The Rapist
-Result: Entering into a completely different conversation online.

On Monday I tweeted : @ChessClassic:#CarlsenKarjakin seems to be the best hashtag for the match. Any other suggestions? #WCCCNYC2016AGONFIDE perhaps?

It did not take long before I got answers and suggestions: @TarjeiJS: #WorldChess2016 seems to be used by some prominent Agon people, but I refuse to use it!

@Pookita: “Yep. The only issue with #CarlsenKarjakin is remembering how to spell carjacking correctly. Otherwise, it’s the best”. David Llada agrees and tweets: @Lladini:“My vote goes to #CarlsenKarjakin. We need to make top player’s names, if not famous, at least recognizable.”

Sometimes you need to convince the organisers to use the right hashtag. @TarjeiJS: “I remember we managed to convince the Indians to use #AnandCarlsen back in 2013, instead of the laughable #FWCM2013”. @adatar: “Which idiot came up with that FWCM thing instead of players name???”

@asimpereira wrote: “Then thank goodness @lachesisq is not one of the players is not one of the players”. In case you are wondering who the person behind that handle is: Yan Nepomniachtchi, the Russian grandmaster who used to work in Team Carlsen, but decided to support Karjakin this year.

@pookita replied: “We’re worried about your young “double Anand.” He’d bury us in letters”. She speaks of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, the 11-year old who is on his way to become the youngest GM ever. The hashtag #NepomniachtchiPraggnanandhaa comes to mind.

I think using the players names makes sense, therefore I will vote for and use #CarlsenKarjakin during the world championship. #WorldChess2016 refers to the official website, and from an organizers point of view this hashtag is understandable. However, as @lladini puts it: “No outsider would remember or feel curious about stuff like #FWCM2013 or #WorldChess2016”.

Talking about outsiders: I stumbled over a tweet by @samuaelalfaro: “Who is going to win the National Chess Championships in New York City? Carlsen or Karjakin.”

In other news on Tuesday: @kajasnare:“Just met @SergeyKaryakin at breakfast in NYC. Reports he is feeling good 3 days to go #worldchess2016”.

The question is: @ChessClubLive: “You are going to have breakfast with @MagnusCarlsen also?” @kajasnare: “He is invited. Got a feeling I will be stood up”.

@tarjeiJS:“Reuters reporting that Agon are suing chess sites to stop them from covering #CarlsenKarjakin”. @SusanPolgar: “Chess moves can’t be copyrighted and should never be copyrighted! This simply defies logic. Chess moves are for all to enjoy and learn from!”

And we have the first predictions coming in on Twitter: @amartinchess: “My prediction for Carlsen-Karyakin: An 6.5-5.5 unthrilling Carlsen win Plenty of hard fought , long games. Maybe a Berlin or two.”

What is your prediction? Send a tweet to @ChessClassic.

One last tweet for today, from the licensed NYC guide @tourguidestan who tweeted on Tuesday: “Fans aren’t exactly beating down the doors to get into the big chess match.”

Having a two-year break from world championship blogging was actually quite nice, but let’s go on with the blog! This time, I am a neutral observer…..

In the next weeks the World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Sergey Karjakin (Russia) in New York will be the main topic in this blog. After the match, I plan to give you a weekly overview of the most interesting chess related tweets.

It is still quiet in Chess World Championship Twitterland, a few days before the match starts, but I found a number of tweets. Let’s kick off with a funny tweet by my regular contributor from India, @reachvsara: ” The intrigues of World Chess Championships started! Browsing on to http://sergeykaryakin.com fwds to http://magnuscarlsen.com automatically!”

The trick still works, even a few days before the match. Sergey obviously does not seem to have a good social media expert in his team.

A good guide for people who obviously like to stay at home and watch online, like Zuckerberg and Gates: @nigelshortchess: “The @ChessBase “journalist” who wrote “Zuckerberg and Gates to Attend World Championship” claims that this did not imply they would attend.”

@Saderjock:“The beautiful flexibility of language. Like the Bible – it can mean anything.”

The journalist replied: @AlberSilver64: “It is very sad when the most important thing in one’s life is arguing about Bill Gates going to the WCh or not.”

@nigelshortchess: “No, it is about extremely shoddy standards of journalism at a very large chess news website.”

The players

Let’s have a look what the players post on Twitter. As a chess fan, you should add the accounts @Magnus Carlsen, with 130.000 followers and @SergeyKarjakin, who has 18.100 followers (6 November 2016).

Sergey obviously prepares in Florida, according to his tweet from 31 October: @SergeyKarjakin:“With my friend Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the match Miami-San Antonio! What a fight! Proud to touch the ball during the game. “

Sergey and Shak touching balls in Miami.

They boys do not tweet very often though, and I can tell from experience that the players will probably not tweet very often during the match. Attention: Follow the account @GaliyaChess, which is the account of Sergey’s wife Galiya Karyakina. You will not only be able to see the result of her shopping sprees in New York, but maybe some other stuff as well during the match.

You might think that 130.000 followers (Carlsen) is quite a lot, but when you check the site http://twittercounter.com/ you will see that the athlete with the most followers is Christiano Ronaldo @cristiano with almost 48 million followers. Reality check: Chess on Twitter is in the same league with sports like Darts, Table Tennis or Snooker.

Since there is not that much going on on Twitter about the match yet, let’s close this comeback column with a tweet by @chessnotes:

“So, 2016 World Chess Championship (two years since last one) starts in five days. Where’s the media blitz?

Well, I don’t know. What’s your view, @TarjeiJS: “I really hope Agon will succeed, but this is their last chance. If they can’t do it in NY, they never will.”

BTW: do we have an official match hashtag yet? Send in suggestions to my acccount @ChessClassic. And if you see any interesting tweets or do have an interesting chess related account yourself, send a tweet to @ChessClassic. Thanks!

Before we going to have a look at the tweets of Game 6, let’s ask @TarjeiJS about the weather and the traffic in Sochi:

“Another beautiful day in Sochi”.

@ChessClassic: “Quite a contrast to Chennai. Or Moscow.”

TarjeiJS: “It’s like night and day”. @portisdos:“I thought it was a lost Russian estapa place like some journalist wrote.”

Let’s go to the tweets of game number six now, Any predictions, people?

@FuriousRoger: “Have a feeling Carlsen will play an unorthodox opening for the sake of it & get his fingers burned a la Aronian at Candidates”.

@GMJanGustafsson: “I am giving 3-1 odds on anything but 1.e4 today”.

@JLangstrand:“So far, I’ve been wrong with every prediction about Carlsen Anand. So I’ll just stop guessing and enjoy the match”

@Dizneyrascal64:“Get yourself a cup of tea and a blanket and settle in for 6 hours of chess”.

And the winner is….. @bennedik:“My prediction for today: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 and a different Anti-Sicilian.”

The opening – bad weekend choice

“The Kan! Big surprise (at least for me)“, tweeted @FabianoCaruana. @anishgiri: “Wow, Vishy goes for the Kan variation? That’s known to be a good choice in open tournaments against patzers. :)”

@bennedik:“I didn’t predict an open Sicilian, but I am very happily surprised.”

@Surewin_racing: “Why does Carlsen always go for the most boring lines possible? :(“

@GiddinsSteve:” Easy to criticise Vishy’s opening choice, but less easy to avoid boring position when Black v opponent who chops Q’s at every opportunity.”

@nigelshortchess:”The importance of openings is greatly overestimated by the public. However, not today. Vishy got a passive position very quickly.”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy plays Kan without Caro, as far as I know, for the 1st time. It’s a favourite choice of mature players; solid & flexible.”

Not everybody was delighted about the opening choice, Hikaru Nakamura does not like mature players, obviously:

@GMHikaru:“Absolutely hate Anand’s opening choice today.”

@GMjtis: “This is not the way VA should be playing the Sicilian. This feels like a Chennai defence”.

@pogonina: “The only reason to employ this line for Anand is to send a message “I can hold even in YOUR type of positions”. Otherwise it’s strange…”

@rajachess: “Terrible choice by Anand today. Just worse,being worse on Saturday all day long is unpleasant,bad week-end choice”

Middle game

@iam_abhijeet“: This type of positions is exactly what one should avoid against Carlsen,It would be !? to see how MadrasTiger defends this one“. @chesscampeona: “Magnus must feel like a kid in a candy store right now”.@LaffenG : “Are you okay Mr Anand ? Looks like your cought with your pants down by Mr Carlsen”.

@FabianoCaruana: “Passive and unpleasant position for Anand – something went very wrong. Now we can settle down for a long grind”.

Any news from the commentators?

@chess24.com:“Sopiko returns to commentate alongside Peter Svidler”.

@polborta aka Peter Svidler: “In reply to the general clamour for Ali G to join the commentary – I agree wholeheartedly, he would be great. But he’s returning home today.”

How to comment the 26th move by Carlsen? Kd2? Engines go wild.

@MadsStostad: “Hvor var du da Anand brakk pila?”

@ChessMike: “Twittersphere blows up with Kd2; reacts against press for asking about it repeatedly. Biggest moment in either match needed several angles.”

@SergeyKarjakin:“When Magnus blundered with Kd2, I was in the playing hall, and wanted to scream NE5!!! It could have changed chess history I guess;-).”

@Kasparov63: Every time there is a bad blunder in a WCh game it’s called “the blunder of the century” but the stress & tension lead to mistakes.

@GMGawain: “Wow just saw the bizarre mutual blindness in Carlsen-Anand. Makes me feel slightly better about the standard of my last two games!”

@GMHikaru: “Anand moving much too fast. Such a shame.”

@ChessNinja: “No top player has made more hasty blunders in technical endgames than Anand. He gets bored, impatient; always been so”.

@Chessbase:” If there was any doubt whether they saw it, this picture of Anand breathing out deeply says it all.”

@Kasparov63:“Amazing double blunder in Carlsen Anand today. Blunders are not that unusual in world championship matches, but returning the favor is!”

@bennedik:“This game is like a bad dream. It would be very sad if it decides the match.”

@gregshahade: “Wow these Anand and Carlsen guys are huge n00bs”

@FabianoCaruana: “I imagine they’re both horrified with how they played today, but Magnus can console himself with a point closer to the title”.

@johnrhartmann:“After today’s double blunder, it appears that I actually _can_ play like both Carlsen and Anand”.

@chesscampeona: “If I feel so bad for Anand, I can only imagine what he feels. He needs a hug.”

@FabianoCaruana:“Shocking blunders… Vishy won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Post mortem

@reachvsara:“‘Vishy – can you describe being the loser of this game?’ What a brilliant question”.

@theclosetgm:“Seriously, are these real, trained journalists or just a bunch of chess groupies pretending to be journalists?”

Before we are going to have a look at tweets of game 4, let us look back at game three. Many, many tweets popped up in the Twitter timeline. Not surprisingly, most tweets came from India. “Chess” and “Anand” was trending in India, meaning that literally thousands of people congratulated Anand on his win in the third game. However, a rather nasty side effect showed up: the official Twitter hashtag #CarlsenAnand was flooded with spam, by spambots.

@anand_bombay: “I guess fans went overboard yesterday with the hashtag and the spambots caught on.”

A spambot is an automated computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create fake accounts and send spam using them, although in many cases it would be obvious that a spambot is sending it. (Wikipedia).

How to get rid of these spambots? I asked for advice on Twitter and @Art_Smart tweeted: “If you block those tweets and report them as spam, they disappear from your feed.” @traderDXB: “Just block all tweets containing “Google inbox invite” And voila!”

Sometimes “spam” can be funny, though.

Game four

Chess now! @kasparov63 tweeted about his old rival. Let us not forget that he played a world championship match against Vishy in 1995! Magnus Carlsen was 5 years old….

“Anand the old tiger cannot chase down his prey so easily these days, but if you put your head in his mouth his teeth are still quite sharp!”

And another tweet, by former world championship match contender @nigelshortchess: “I don’t like to be rude about my superiors, but I have to say that Magnus’ opening prep. was really shoddy yesterday”

Well, let’s check what the world champion played today then! What does Twitterland expect? @EinarGausel:“Don’t expect to see Magnus swinging for the fences today. The Champ will no doubt be looking for a slow, technical grind”. @dfreire: “Today we have a wounded Magnus Carlsen playing with white. It’s one of those rare occasions chess fans won’t want to miss”. @rajkashana: “Carlsen will try to get Vishy out of prep as quickly as possible. I doubt if he plans to enter Mordor again. :)”

Some useful information by @shrinjanr: “Every game Vishy wins he gains 6 elo points while Magnus gains 4. For a loss its -6 & -4 respectively. For a draw +1 & -1”

Are we ready for game four? Judit Polgar posted this picture.

@GMJuditPolgar: “Wanna know what a retired chess queen does in her free time? Gets a chair and checks what Vishy and Magnus are up to:)”

The story of game four in ten tweets:

1. @bennedik:“Very happy to see a Sicilian. Now wait for Magnus to take all the life out of the position and get a nice endgame”

2. @MarkTwic:“Was there a small disturbance in the audience to Carlsen-Anand game 4? Here Carlsen turns and stares?”

3. @rajachess: “Oh,almost my game against Carlsen from Wijk. I developped differently with black,had some problems,Anand wants to play with isolani pure.”

4. @FabianoCaruana: “Anand will be defending this for a while, but he can be confident about his chances to hold on”

5. @JanAageFjortoft: “Preparing for a football-game, watching Chess live on TV It’s a funny old game….”

6. @nigelshortchess: “I played a guy at blitz who explained he was hoping I would die of a heart attack. Perhaps this is also Magnus’ strategy? :)”

7. @Chessbase: “Magnus watches Philae land.”

8. @AnishGiri: “Vishy looks bored, I think he wants to play a pillow fight with Akhil.”

9. @GMJanGustafsson: “Come on guys, shake hands, the rest of us have work to do!”

One bonus tweet by Claudia Munoz aka @Chesscampeona, proving that women multitask more than men: “I am watching Carlsen Anand and the landing of the European Space Ship on the Comet, both at the same time.”

I hope you understand the @Chessbase tweet now :-))

@fmkrms:“Alright so ESA landed on a comet, well done… but could they do it on a wet Wednesday night in Stoke?”

One last tweet for today, a good one to think about on the rest day. @GMjtis: “Twitter is full of people who want you to say something and then tell you what you said instead of reading what you said “

@harikadronavali: “Rest day could be bliss for players, but boring day for spectators.”

Do you have a problem with rest days, @reachsvara? “Problem with Rest Days? ‘Armchair generals’ H.A.V.E to theorise, vomitting absurd ideas!”

@poisondpwnpress: “What on earth am I supposed to do for the next 14 hours? I need Carlsen – Anand in my life.”

Well, you can play a game yourself for a change, like the journos do in Sochi. There is nothing else to do in this ghost town.

@chessvibes:“Norwegian journalists in Sochi playing chess over the board or with @PlayMagnus. Yep, #chessfever”.

I found a nice tweet by @FabianoCaruana on the rest day: “I read that I’m “helping” Anand for the match. Good to know – I think neither of us were aware of that.”

India? Norway? No boundaries in the chess world! Kudos to these two tweeters:

@einargausel: “Mixed feelings about Carlsen – Anand. As a Norwegian I want to see Magnus do the bizz, but the middle-aged man in me is rooting for Vishy.”@gauravm333.”As an Indian I’m for Anand, but the 23-year-old self of me is for the Norwegian star.”

But now …. let us have a look at game 3. The tweets will do the talking….in 5 acts + encore.

Act 1: The opening

What do you expect, @garylanchess? “Looking forward to the game later and I expect 1. e4 this time and predict an exciting draw”.

Teymur Rajabov, aka@rajachess: “1.d4 and probably no Gruenfeld by Carlsen”. @reachvsara: “Magnus shifting to QGD as expected – being a point up, why play Grunfeld and why show blood to a shark!?”

@yelenadembo: “Time to check the old Steinitz games”.

@nigelshortchess:“I guess you all want some witty explanations about what is going on. I have no idea. Heavy theory, that’s all”. @anishgiri: “Same strategy from Magnus as in Chennai, a surprise in the first game and the ultra solid opening to follow…”. @yelenadembo: “By the fast replies of both sides, it is clear that they are nowhere near the end of their preparation”.

@fabianocaruana:”Everyone is saying this is a solid line for Black. But…. isn’t that a white pawn on c7?”

Act 2: Critical moves

@harichess: “Qa6 is such an easy move with engines running 😀 in my opinion 0-0 is more human”. @rajachess:“0-0 is not bad in general,is just bad compared to Qa6 I think!”

@chesscampeona: “Computer is a constant word I read in tweets during a “human” World Championship Chess match.”

@rajachess: “Carlsen’s time is ticking slowly for Indian fans,and extremely fast for fans of Carlsen”. @ChessIndiaNet: “20 minutes left for Carlsen to make 15 moves in a tough position .. and its going to get tougher with every move”. @dilipvanaman: “Its official Magnus is in time trouble ? Can he find the Houdini route ?” @ChessVibes:“Carlsen has 10 minutes left for 13 moves. He’s not in time trouble often. How will he deal with it, under this pressure?”

@Unudurti:“World championship games decided by time´trouble leave their scars on the players…and spectators too!”

Act 4: The end

@tejasvimohanram: “Veni Vidi Vishy! Game3 looks like in the bag”. @OlimpiuUrcan: “A gentle reminder to those who celebrate prematurely: “Remember, Remember, Twenty-First of November.” (Chennai, Game Nine)”. @EtienneGoud: “Anand is playing fantastic today. Note that the position after 28.Ra1! is close to zugzwang. Was very hard for Magnus not to blunder there.”

@nigelshortchess:” In a parallel with yesterday’s game, it looks like it will be decided by a blunder after sustained pressure”

(Screenshot by @DeepMikey, www-chess-tigers.de)

@Chess24.com: “Sopiko: “Judging by Magnus’ face he’s not happy” Peter: “There’s no reason to be happy…”

Talking about Sopiko: @SagTan:“Sopiko is so cute, I could sack 9 queens !”

@Jonathan_Rowson: “Vishy wins! Powerful opening,precise calculation, good technique,excellent time management. He played,dare I say it, like a World Champion.”

@fabianocaruana: “Looks like Magnus forgot or mixed up his prep,because this was all widely known a year ago. Anand may make an early comeback”.

@Unudurti: “Magnus forgot that old Indian adage, when a tiger grows old, he turns into a man-eater”.

Act 5: Congratulations

@AnishGiri: “Vishy wins the third game of the match in Sochi. This is now a fact of Russian history too!” @humanlyAsshole: “I have never been as happy in recent time as i have been now. The Vishwanath Redemption”. @lladini: “I would love to see Vishy right now, when the door closes after him on the lift and he is finally alone”.

@JcKnight2: “The Tiger slayed Thor. The Tiger slayed Thor. To all haters, Anand is back so expect a fight. Vishy all the way.”

@reachvsara: “That sheer joy only an Indian can feel, how this brilliant & ambitious man has brought happiness with his feats”.

@gauravschandel: “Just when I thought Vishy is down and out, he comes with a bang. Best news I’ve heard all day!”

@karthikPMO: “Great show in Game 3, Vishy! You indeed brought “Anandam” to all your fans! Millions are praying for your success!”

@aravindganesh: “Carlsen- Anand is like that of Arjuna-Karna battle. Now don’t ask me who is Arjuna & who is Karna….

@jenshahade: “Adorable to watch Vishy try so hard not to smile. What a sportsman!”

Encore

@FSTIMJP: “To be fair, MC’s play over the board today would probably rank as among top five-ten worst in modern history of WC matches”.

@SilvioDanailov: “If Magnus Carlsen wants to enter in theoretical battles he needs much better seconds than @PHChess.Losing clearly the opening duel so far.”

@Cassiopee:“Although a big MC fan,delighted with today’s result, if only for the interest of the WC. He is but human after all!”

@ChessNinja: “Trivia Dept: In the last 5 world championship matches the winner of the 2nd decisive game won the title. 8 of last 9. Weird”

@bennedik noted: “Tripling on a file seems to be quite strong.”

@occupyc5: “Suddenly @TarjeiJS has to reset his ‘Anand hasn’t beated Magnus’ in 1000 years line :)”

The last tweet of the day is reserved for the world’s number 2 on the rating list:

@fabianocaruana: “Today was a must-win for Anand. He exposed Carlsen’s weakness, scored a crucial victory & brought intrigue back to the match”

9 November: what a day. Did you know that on 9 November 1985, Garry Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov?

Four years later, a wall fell.

@Europe_Echecs: “A Berlin defense for the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall would not be a good idea”, and added this twitpic:

Of course Carlsen and Anand played the Berlin Defence in game 2. It was just a matter of time before the first “Wall” tweet popped up. The winner is @mortenp: “Berlin being played on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall”. @chess24.com: “So an anti-Berlin on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!”

This is one of the best videos I found about the building of the wall:

Back to chess. Ready for game 2?

@_cyberella:“I have a box of chocolates, fresh coffee and Carlsen – Anand streaming on the laptop. It’s a perfect Sunday”.

Hmm, Sunday is also Premier League day, too bad that the organizers planned game two today: @TarjeiJS:“One of Carlsen’s closest friend saying he wants to win quickly today, because of Swansea-Arsenal starting at 5 (CET)”.

@rajachess:“Is he really going to watch Swansea-Arsenal?”

@nigelshortchess:“Reti was right: 1.e4 is just a blunder” and added: “I am quite glad I chose to finish my lunch rather than rush back home for the opening moves”.

@anishgiri:“Sad necessity of modern chess. Back in the days a6 Bxc6 was considered nothing, now Magnus tries it even without a6”. @fabianocaruana: Even without a6 he can enjoy memories of his game vs Grischuk. It’s only 1 tempo after all.

The commercial break

And now… in the middle of the game…we have to leave you for a commercial break….

@ChessIndiaNet: “So fortunate to see the Borat’s museum ad again :)” @cyberella: “And now we’re getting ads, in the middle of the match??? What hideous way to cover a World Championship!!” @ImbiebsRainbow: “Commercial breaks. Meanwhile, the guys are making moves. I don’t get it at all, isn’t the game more important right now?”

@OlimpiuUrcan: “This repetitive Russian Chess Museum infomercial threatens to set a new world record of Ivan the Terrible mentions in the next three weeks.”

@Rfed1: “Dei, this is absurd. They have scheduled ad breaks and you are forced to watch some Russian crap for 10 minutes non stop”.

@FuriousRoger:“Carlsen has one eye on the Swansea game, while Vishy is mulling over the choice of pickle for his thayir sadam”

Hikaru Nakamura is watching the match from sunny California and tweeted: @GMHikaru:“Strange moves by Anand in the middlegame. In particular, the knight almost always belongs on e6 in these exchange Ruy structures. 18…Ne6!” And what do you think about the position, @FabianoCaruana:“This is very nasty for black. And exactly the type of position where Carlsen is at his most ruthless”.

Caruana could be the next challenger, right? @mousa_bander tweeted: “In 2016, carlsen-caruana , in 2018, carlsen-giri, In 2020 carlsen- stockfish”.

Carlsen’s seconds “The Dane and The Hammer” were obviously confident about the position, and started tweeting during the game: @PHChess: “Would be a fitting day to tear down the Berlin wall..” and immediately after the game Jon Ludvig Hammer @gmjvh tweeted:“The wall has fallen!”

Brilliant stuff by Wadalupe!

What happened? Let’s ask @Jonathan_Rowson: “Essence of why Vishy lost today? He evaluated position after 23.Rc3 as close to equal, but it’s close to lost. Easily done.” And he added: “All said and done, hyper-classy, super skilled, quietly deadly, brutally elegant win by Magnus today.”

What do you think, @Nigelshortchess:“Blunders don’t happen in a vacuum. 34…h5?? came after enormous sustained pressure”

@AnishGiri:” It’s hard to a win a match if the starting point for your ‘strategy’ is “I am a weaker player.”

The fans in India were disappointed, of course. A selection of tweets: @anand_bombay: “The other Candidates players must be thanking their stars that they are not the ones at the receiving end. ” @deshmukhavinash: “Very angry and upset with defeat. Anand literally crumbled under pressure”. @arvindtal: “Vishy is such a disappointment that i started listening to some classical music (Saint Saens) after the game to ease the blow.”

@Jonathan_Rowson:“If Indian press are giving Vishy a hard time they should chill out. He lost one game to the best player ever having a particularly good day.”

@MagnusCarlsen was all smiles after the game:“Nice way to end the weekend…” and showed a selfie with his sister Ellen.

A perfect Sunday for the world champion? Àlmost. Remember the tweet about Swansea-Arsenal?

A lot of people watched football this weekend, many people in Norway watched chess: Spurs fan @TarjeiJS has the exact figures for us:“218,000 Norwegians followed Carlsen-Anand on #nrksjakk this weekend, 52.000 more than in Chennai. (via @Aftenposten)”.

@OlimpiuUrcan: “That’s about 4.3% of Norway’s population. Or, if FIDE staffers would calculate that, about 85%.”

Oh yes, we all had a good laugh at the opening ceremony on Friday, when unexpectedly the “Dallas” theme was played, the moment our great leader, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov entered the stage. @pookita suggested another song: “I think they should’ve gone back further – in line with the 60s theme – I Love Lucy theme?”

I think that the most appropiate walk-on song for the FIDE president is “Money, Money Money, by Abba.

Well, talking about walk-on songs. A year or so ago I wrote an article for a German chess magazine about the lessons chess can learn from other so-called fringe sports like snooker or darts, which attract much more coverage in the press than chess. Darts has developed from a pub sport to a very popular sport that attracts large crowds. Many innovations for the audience were made by a highly professional organisation, the PDC, Professional Darts Corporation. Everything the chess world is dreaming of (TV, large crowds, spectator friendly coverage), was put into effect in the darts world in a rather short period of time (20 years). Exactly, that is how long Kirsan is the president of FIDE….but didn’t he say something about going back to the sixties at the opening press conference? That is the future of chess for you!

One of the nice innovations in darts is the walk-on song, before the players enter the oche to play their match You create a “big-time” atmosphere by using a song, picked by the player.

Question to you, dear reader: which walk-on song could we pick for the players? I guess “Eye of the Tiger”, by Survivor is a good one for Anand, but I cannot really think of a good song for Carlsen. “Hammer to Fall”, by Queen?

Suggestions please! Send a tweet to @ChessClassic

Here is some inspiration:

Let’s go to game one then, shall we? Everybody excited?

Nice twitpic, provided by @Europe_Echecs. All we need is a tweet that goes with the picture: @akash_mihir: “Sad that I am the only one excited & no one around me had a clue whats happening.

Some prominent spectators and tweeters are around of course:

@anishgiri:“As a spectator, hope the White Tiger will go for the Champ’s throat in the first game already!”@garylanchess: “I am sticking with my prediction of Anand winning the first game within 44 moves.”

@FabianoCaruana: “The WC match may be an outdated format, but this is still THE chess event of the year”.

It is, but NOT of you organize a world championship in a ghost town like Sochi. How many spectators came today?

@ChessVibes: “Carlsen-Anand has started! Besides a few dozen FIDE officials, there’s only a handful of spectators.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“FIDE loves to talk big numbers but the stray dogs in Sochi are likely to outnumber the number of visiting spectators to a world title match.”

How to follow the games? There are plenty of websites where you can follow the games, mostly with a strong chess engine. Some of the tweeters have useful advice for the spectators. Claudia Munoz aka @chesscampeona: “If you really want to grow during the match, don’t watch it with engine analysis. Write your analysis in a notebook.” And she added: “Everyone is a GM and a critic with chess engines, write down your own analysis and then compare it at the end of the game”.

However, not everybody seems to be interested in the game at all, as @TarjeiJS posted: “VG is speculating about Anand’s (lack of?) hair”.

@arjendoefke: “Does Anand wear a hairpiece?”

Comment by @rajkashana: “Norwegian tabloids have managed to sink to a level that is even below the Daily Mail”. @GMjtis: “Feel free to bombard #vgsjakk and tell them to stop the tasteless exercises in creative chess ‘coverage’.” @TarjeiJS: “I agree that was embarassing and unnecessary.”

Of course it was unnecessary, but admit it people: who did not giggle for a moment? I did.

Talking about coverage: the official commentators on the match website are GM Peter Svidler, @polborta and Sopiko Guramishvili @Sopiko20.

Twitpic provided by @Anna-Chess. And as expected, I found many tweets about the commentary, here are a few: @Eaviles94: “All I hear is Peter’s voice. It’s as if Sopiko is not even there.” @luimuilui: “Hi Peter, thank you for cutting short Sopiko, truely masterful.” @Chesscampeona: “I am not going to be shy about this, but I really really really like Peter Svidler’s deep voice”.

@anishgiri: “The female voice in the live broadcast strikes me as surprisingly familiar!!”. For the newbies: Sopiko is his girlfriend!

@fstimjp: “Hearing so many times Yeah even if from a friendly female voice is not helping listen to the live WC official commentary”.

Teymur Rajabov aka @rajachess:” I never had time to listen to @polborta press-conferences as we played same tournaments, but now we are not playing in the same tournament!” And he added: “And I am sure if Anand can’t outlast Magnus in the match,none of us can outlast Svidler at press-conferences :)”

And what did Svidler have to say? @polborta:“I will try to shut up and let @Sopiko20 talk, but since I honestly tried that today……. and quite obviously failed miserably, the results of this resolution are anyone’s guess.”

As you probably all know, the first game ended in a draw: @Unudurti: “Everything today: incisive opening prep, complex middlegame, and now a rich endgame. what is called a full “thali” meal :)” Or you can put it this way: @Dilipvanaman: “Vishy’s opening preparation – 75/100 marks, middle game – 50/100 marks, End game 25/100 marks”. @venkatachalamk1: “Round one drawwwwwww. Without draw, there is no charm in the game. Next round Anand is a black tiger or rather a black panther.”

Screenshot by @DeepMikey.

@DScaper: “Oops – @NastiaKarlovich must start to repeat the questions aloud if they can’t find an audience mike. The world is watching.”

What did the real experts think of the first game?

@jonathan_rowson: “Not too sure what to make of today’s game. Vishy was basically outplayed, but gained a morale boost from not collapsing”. @rajachess: It is a very good sign for Anand that he kept this position,he lost equal endgames in previous match,which decided the match”. @nigelshortchess: “Carlsen played very well today, but Vishy showed balls and did not succumb to pressure.”

@OlimpiuUrcan:“ Anand stepped into the ring swinging. He dodged a knockout, retreated to his corner smiling, with one tooth missing: “At least I got balls.”

So what is next, @chesscampeona? “The good news for Anand is that he got a draw in round 1, the bad news for Anand is that now Magnus will have white in game 2”.

@anishgiri:Noticed that Magnus might have missed a serious win. chance with 42….Re3! (idea 43.Rd7+ Kh6 44.Rxb7 Rb3!). To be analysed.